Hammond, IN
Students climb under stopped trains to get to school.
Summary
| Metro | Chicago region |
|---|---|
| Railroads | Norfolk Southern · CSX · IHB · South Shore |
| Open at-grade crossings | 76 |
| Vehicles a day crossing tracks at grade | 447,874 |
| Busiest crossing in the model | Indianapolis Blvd (326955G): 27,982 vehicles/day, switching trains/day |
| Funding | 1 award on record (see below) |
| Data source | FRA Crossing Inventory, retrieved Oct 2, 2026 |
Blockage scenario
Time
$6.66M
302,413 person-hours a year
Trade
18,819
truck-hours a year, worth $672K in driver time
Pollution
568 t
CO₂ from 61,699 gallons idled, like 123 cars for a year
Example scenario. Reporters saw school routes blocked for 4, 6 and 7 hours.
| Blockages modeled per crossing per year | 364 |
|---|---|
| Vehicles stopped by one blockage | 1,505 |
| Trucks stopped by one blockage | 138 |
| Person-hours lost per year | 302,413 |
| Value of lost time per year | $6.66M |
| Truck-hours idled per year | 18,819 |
| Gallons of fuel idled per year | 61,699 |
| CO₂ per year (metric tons) | 568 |
Screening estimate. Each selected crossing is blocked for the set time; drivers wait half of it on average. Method and sources
Crossings in the model
| Crossing | USDOT ID | Vehicles/day | Trains/day | Trucks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 326955G | 27,982 | switching | 10% | |
| 163627L | 20,169 | 19 + 14 switching | 8% |
Uncheck a crossing to remove it from the scenario. "~" truck shares use the city's traffic-weighted average where the inventory reports none.
On the record
- Reporters saw trains block routes to an elementary, a middle and a high school for 4, 6 and 7 hours, and watched dozens of students climb over and crawl under cars.
ProPublica / InvestigateTV · Apr 26, 2023 ↗ - Trains stretch across five or six intersections at a time.
ProPublica / InvestigateTV · Apr 26, 2023 ↗ - Funding FY2022 RCE: $7,029,392 for the Governors Pkwy overpass.
Source ↗